


Sleep with a Blanket and a Shovel

by caimani



Series: Lemonade [6]
Category: As It Is (Band), Set It Off (Band), Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Character Death In Dream, Demons, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence, Multi, Nightmares, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-25 23:02:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17734322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caimani/pseuds/caimani
Summary: What exactly is Cody's "family problem" and why won't he tell his boyfriends (or his friends) about it?





	1. Chapter 1

_Two weeks ago…_

The edifice rose up against the midnight sky like an ancient cathedral. On the inside, it was even more imposing and awe-inspiring. Its high arches and columns made of black stone, the countless elaborate silver torch brackets blazing with blue hellfire, the massive and intricate tapestries depicting scenes straight out of a nightmare: it was all so beautiful and terrifying. 

The air was heavy with incense. The dais at the far end was illuminated by a blazing blue wall of hellfire. And there was a huge demon dragon standing at the entrance as all the attendees walked in. 

Cody would have loved it if he didn’t feel so out of place. 

At home and at school, he’d always felt the presence of his demon blood. It made him different. Stronger. He worried sometimes; had to keep his power in check to ensure he didn’t accidentally go too far when he was just playing around. 

But in this place, he had never felt more human. 

Even having his mother and extended family with him did little to ease his nerves. He could feel the eyes on him. They were surrounded by more demons than Cody thought existed, all of them full of magic and power. He looked around a little to satisfy his curiosity, but tried not to stand out too much.

He had to remind himself that it was important he was there. His family had explained the problem on the way, and the gravity of the situation made everything back at school feel trivial in comparison.

They sat down in their assigned places and eventually the meeting started. 

Cody kept quiet as he heard the demons explain the issue again: the Realm of Expanse was showing signs of collapse. He’d only heard of that realm a few times before— a beautiful world controlled by the more powerful demons and clans who basically treated it like their vacation home. He was getting a whole history lesson on it now, but it was kind of interesting.

“But the Realm of Expanse has not always been strictly demonic,” the demon historian was saying. “A very long time ago, it was populated by hellhounds, demon dragons, and many other varieties of now-extinct creatures. Their life and death cycles provided the pure supernatural essence that is required to sustain the realms. But without—”

“So is that all we need?” a demon interrupted. “Monster essence?”

“Tristan, sit down and do not interrupt,” snapped the demon standing beside the historian at the dais. 

“Well,” the historian said. “In simple terms, yes. But the fact is, the Realm of Expanse has been without a steady supply of this essence—” 

“How much would it need to recover?” another demon interrupted.

“Questions can come _afterwards_ , Charlene.”

“How can we save the Realm of Expanse?” yet another one said, sounding panicked. Murmurs began to grow among the assembled demons.

The demon at the dais suddenly turned into a fifty-foot tall lion-like creature, dark and blue and dripping hellfire from his body. Cody couldn’t help his flinch. Beside him, his mom found his hand and squeezed it comfortingly. The demon roared, making the entire building shake. Then he returned to his human appearance. 

“Discussion of this problem shall occur _after_ Lord Vincent is done,” he said. “Anyone else who interrupts will be escorted out and exempt from the process of deciding what action to take.”

Nobody else interrupted. 

The historian awkwardly cleared his throat. “While there are records of the Realm of Blood collapsing, it is difficult to gather much useful information from them. What we know is that the Realm of Blood experienced a great flood of supernatural essence which abruptly stopped when the realm was all but abandoned. Centuries later, the realm collapsed. Many aspects of the decline of that realm are similar to what we are seeing now. However, the Realm of Expanse is quite different, and I believe more research needs to occur before we can make a wise decision.”

“Thank you Lord Vincent,” the demon at the dais said. “If there are any questions that do not involve the lord’s recommendation for action— or your own opinions of this problem— then we will hear them now.”

There were a few requests for information on the Realm of Blood and more history of the Realm of Expanse, but Cody could tell the assembled demons were anxious to debate how to deal with the problem. His family all remained quiet.

They had all discussed their stance before leaving for this meeting.

Let the Realm of Expanse fall.

~~~

Cody felt sick. Hearing so many demons in favor of such senseless measures… it was nauseating. Thankfully the majority were in favor of waiting for more research and information, but…

A small faction of the demons wanted to launch an attack on the angel realm for their powerful monster essence. They were rebuffed by dozens who told them it was a stupid idea that would result in more losses than gains, but it was still shocking to hear it being discussed.

Another faction— one a bit larger than the other— proposed sacrificing a considerable number of other monsters to revitalize the realm. That proposal was also voted down, but it had a concerning number of supporters. The way they talked so casually about non-demon monsters made Cody sick to his stomach. As if… as if they were a potential resource and not actual living people.

Cody and his family vocally supported the majority of demons calling for more research before making any decisions. Inwardly, Cody just wanted to yell at them all to let the damn realm collapse. Who cared about the demons’ vacation home? The historical value of the realm didn’t really matter since the demons had long since banished everything else. It was pointless trying to save it.

Most of the demons were still in the building, gathered into groups that were discussing things among themselves. But the meeting had officially ended, so pretty soon, Cody’s mom would be driving him back to school.

Fuck, he wanted to be back at school. This whole weekend had drained him so badly.

He wanted to be out of this demonic realm. He wanted his friends. He wanted to hug Patty and have Awsten poke him in the side with a pen when he thought Patty wasn’t watching. He just wanted to pretend this was all a bad dream and wake up in a place where his biggest problem was geometry.

He started walking towards the doors with one of his distant cousins, but not before looking back and catching his mom’s attention. She nodded and motioned for him to go on ahead of her.

Cody was close to reaching the door when someone bumped into him. 

Intentionally.

Cody turned to look at the demon and froze when he recognized him as one of the demons who had brought up the ‘let’s sacrifice a ton of other monsters to keep the Realm of Expanse alive’ plan. His name was… Cody couldn’t quite remember it.

“Sorry,” Cody managed to say, even though the other demon should have been the one apologizing. There was another demon with him, a girl who looked like she was around Cody’s age. She pushed in front of the older demon, moving uncomfortably close to Cody. He took a step back.

“You’re a half-demon,” the older demon said. It wasn’t a question.

“Um,” Cody said. He glanced back at his mom, who was still in conversation with someone else. Meanwhile, his cousin was nowhere to be seen. What the fuck, where did he go?

“You must go to a monster school in the human realm, huh?” The demon girl’s eyes were narrowed and she had an unpleasant smile on her face. “Since I’ve never seen you before now. What’re those like?”

“Uh—”

“How many monsters go to those places?” she went on. “How many—”

“Sorry Cody, I didn’t realize you’d stopped,” his cousin said, inserting himself in between Cody and the other demons. He grimaced at the sight of the other two demons. “I suppose I’ll see you at the next meeting, Lord Chester?”

“Of course,” the older demon— Lord Chester— said. “I’m very concerned about this problem, you understand. Myself and Opal.”

“Have you ever seen the Realm of Expanse?” the demon girl said, specifically to Cody. “It’s beautiful. The most beautiful realm of all. It’d be the worst tragedy to let it fall to ruin. We need to do _anything_ we can to save it.”

Cody felt disgusted. “Uh huh,” he muttered. “Bye.”

He stuck next to his cousin’s side as they left the building. It felt like those two demons were watching him leave, but they didn’t stop him again.

He tried to put the encounter out of his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

_Now…_

The morning after Homecoming, Cody wakes up to Patty sleepily slapping him on the arm. His face is buried in Awsten’s fur. He’s comfortably wedged in between the two of them, and there’s a familiar song playing softly nearby.

“Turn off your phone,” Patty murmurs, his arms tightening around Cody’s waist. 

Cody tries to sit up to reach for his phone, but Patty won’t let go and Awsten won’t move. “Awsten, move,” he tries, but the big stubborn werewolf just turns his face and licks Cody’s cheek. 

“Ugh, gross,” Cody grumbles. He crawls on top of the wolf instead— Patty finally letting him go— and picks up his phone. There’d better be a good reason someone is calling him at seven in the morning on a Saturday—

_Please answer. I have news about the realm problem_ is the text he sees on the screen.

And it’s his mom calling. 

Cody is suddenly very awake.

“Uh, I gotta take this,” he says, scrambling over Awsten and tumbling to the floor in his hurry.

“What’s going on?” Patty calls after him, but Cody’s already hurrying out of the dorm room and into the hall. He accepts the call with shaking fingers. 

“Hey, sorry Mom, I was asleep,” he says quickly.

_“I know, I just wanted to let you know as soon as it was decided,”_ his mom says. 

Cody’s heart is in his throat. “What did they decide?”

_“Oh, it’s good news. They’re moving everyone out of the realm. From the information they’ve collected so far, the decline is too far along and it would take too much essence to restore it. Nobody’s happy about it, and now they’re all arguing about what to do about their losses.”_

“They can all cry a fucking river,” Cody says. “Boo hoo, they’re losing their fancy mansions and plantations.” 

His mom laughs. _“But it’s good news, that this is finally figured out! I know you’ve been worried. I hope it didn’t ruin your first Homecoming. How was that, by the way? You went with those nice boyfriends of yours, right? You’re all still together, I hope.”_

Cody groans. “Yes Mom, it was fine.”

_“Did your school win the game?”_

“Yeah,” Cody says. A smile comes to his face as he thinks back on the previous night. 

_“And the dance? You got the suit that we sent you, right?”_

“Yeah, the dance was great,” Cody says, accidentally putting more emotion than he was intending into his answer. His mom makes a delighted noise.

_“You need to send me pictures! I want to see how you three looked! I’ve got a nice frame and I’ve been wanting to put—”_

Cody jumps at the sound of a door opening behind him. He looks over his shoulder and sees Patty and Awsten sticking their heads out of the dorm room. Awsten’s ears are perked up and Cody’s heart skips a beat. He hopes Awsten didn’t hear anything. He has no idea how good werewolf hearing is.

“I’ll talk to you later, okay, bye,” he says quickly, ending the call before his mom can say anything else that could potentially humiliate him.

Patty reaches out to touch Cody’s shoulder as he returns to the dorm room. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s all fine,” Cody says. “Just my mom checking up.”

Patty looks a little concerned. “It seemed urgent,” he says.

Cody scoffs and puts his phone back onto the desk. “No, it was nothing important.”

~~~

The day goes by slowly and calmly. Cody doesn’t think he’s been so relaxed in weeks.

After a Saturday brunch with Patty and a surprisingly clingy Awsten, he hangs out and plays video games with Zach, Maxx, and Dan for the rest of the day. Zach is weirdly quiet at first, but he brightens up as they get into the game. 

“You were cute last night,” Dan says out of the blue, and it takes Cody a few seconds to realize he’s talking to him.

“Wait, me?” Cody says.

“Yeah, you,” Dan says. “We saw you being all cuddly with Awsten.”

“About time,” Zach says. “Finally stopped pretending you weren’t into each other.”

“Cody and Awsten, sitting in a tree,” Maxx says in a sing-song voice. 

Cody loses his focus on the game and fucks up. “Shut up! Wh— whatever, he’s kind of tolerable when he’s not being annoying.”

“Sort of like you?” Dan says.

Cody kicks at him. 

“Aww, Cody’s got a crush!” Maxx cooed.

“He’s my boyfriend!” Cody says. “Of course I… I like him! A little. Maybe.”

Zach laughs. “Yeah, but you actually _like_ like him now. We were watching you guys through the window when you were on your way over. You gave him another kiss before he left. It was adorable.”

“You were watching us!” Cody gasps. 

“Yeah!” Maxx and Dan say at the same time, completely shameless. 

Cody groans. 

“It is nice though,” Dan says. “You seem way happier now than you were, like, before Homecoming. I can’t believe your whole thing with Awsten was stressing you out so bad.”

Cody glances down at the controller in his hands, his thoughts suddenly growing heavy. He was acting stressed? Shit. Had Awsten and Patty noticed? Fuck, they probably did. He can always laugh it off as the tension between him and Awsten… but he doubts Patty will buy that for a second. Patty won’t push for answers though. But now that Cody is thinking about that, he kind of feels bad for keeping something that was affecting him so much from his boyfriends. 

Maybe he should tell them? No, no, it won’t be a problem anymore. He can laugh about it with them later. Months later, preferably.

“Did you _do_ anything?” Maxx says with a grin.

“What? No! Oh my god!” Cody says, startled out of his inner musing. “I mean… besides making out and like, cuddling, no.” And Patty biting them and drinking their blood, which Cody thinks is hot as fuck. Fuck, he’s definitely blushing now. “And we’ve only been together like a month, anyway,” he adds defensively.

“Just messing with you,” Maxx says with a laugh. “I don’t wanna hear about it when you do.”

“Please don’t tell me either,” Zach says, totally serious.

“Feel free to tell me when it happens, but it’d better not be until after you’re all gay-monster-married and you’ll need to replace everyone’s names with pseudonyms,” Dan says.

Cody feels like his cheeks are burning up with embarrassment. He gives up on the game and covers his face, groaning even louder. “I hate you guys, oh my god,” he grumbles.

~~~

Dan’s observation sticks with Cody for the remainder of the day. When Zach and Maxx both leave, he hesitates. Dan eyes him curiously and waves him back in.

“Something’s up?” he asks.

Cody pulls at his hair. “Uh, yeah, kind of,” he says. He weighs the idea in his mind, and then decides to just go for it.

“What you said earlier,” he says. “About… me acting stressed.”

“Yeah?” Dan says.

“That… that wasn’t about Awsten. It was something else.” Cody looks Dan in the face and finds nothing but openness and composure. Okay, he can do this. At this point, he feels like he _needs_ to do this, to share this with someone. Someone besides his family. He at least wants to explain the real reason for how amazing he’s feeling now.

Also how… guilty he feels for keeping this from everyone who matters to him at Monster High.

“Um. So a couple weeks ago, my family took me out for the weekend, right?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Dan says. 

“That… there’s something going in with the one of the demon realms. You know how there’s like, a bunch of them that only demons and stuff can access?”

Dan nods. “Like, hellhounds and other magic monsters. And fae. I think, being a dryad, I can get into the fairy realm, but I’ve never tried. So what’s going on with the demon ones?”

“Just one of them,” Cody says. “It’s like… it’s collapsing because there’s not enough life in it? That’s the basic gist of it. And a whole bunch of demons who have beachfront property there are pissed about it.”

Dan frowns. “An entire realm… is collapsing? What’s that going to do to… like… everything? Does it affect the other realms?”

Cody is thrown by that. It isn’t exactly where he was going with this explanation. “Uh, I don’t think it’s serious. I didn’t really pay attention to that.” He considers it for a moment. “I guess if nobody besides demons know about it, it can’t be a big deal. They said another realm has collapsed in the past and it didn’t seem like a huge issue back then. I don’t know.”

Dan nods, but still looks worried. “Okay, go on. So this has been stressing you out?”

Cody shakes his head. “I mean, I don’t give a shit about the whole realm. I’ve just been worried…”

He swallows. That’s right. This whole time, the sick feeling that settled in his stomach from hearing demons discuss the possibility of killing hundreds or even thousands of other monsters— just to save some stupid near empty-realm— _that’s_ what’s been bothering him. To be honest… remembering that now is bothering him again. 

He looks back at Dan. Dan tilts his head. 

“Is it… not being able to know what’s going on? Since you have to be in school?” Dan prompts helpfully.

Cody tugs at his hair again. He should be honest, right. Right.

“That,” he says, “And the fact that some of the demons talking about how to deal with the realm talked about… killing a bunch of other monsters to harvest their essence to restore the realm.”

Dan gapes. “What the fuck?”

Cody grimaces. “Yeah, that was my reaction too.”

“Dude,” Dan says. “You’ve been sitting on that for weeks? No fucking wonder. Wait, so was Homecoming a distraction from all of that then? Cause you seemed like you were having a good time but...”

Cody shrugs. “I mean, Homecoming was great. But Mom called this morning and gave me the good news. They’re letting the realm collapse.”

Dan shakes his head slowly. “That’s so… wow. Have you told Awsten and Patty about this too?”

Cody winces. “Uh, no?”

“Are you going to?” Dan says. “They can probably give you more emotional support and all. Since it sounds like this is still kinda fucking you up. Talking to people helps, you know.”

Cody drops into Dan’s chair. “I know, I just… it’s kinda a heavy topic. And we’ve only been together like a month. I don’t wanna drag them into my demon bullshit, especially now that me and Awsten are… you know.” At Dan’s skeptical look, he adds, “And it’s basically all over now! I’m just… sorta recovering from it all.”

Dan sighs. “I still think you should talk this over with them. Wait a bit longer if you want, but don’t wait too long.”

Cody nods. “Thanks. For listening.”

Dan throws an arm around Cody’s shoulders and they hug tightly for a moment. “Hey, I’m your friend, I’m here for you.” Dan says. “I’m not gonna tell anyone unless you want me to, okay?”

“Okay.”

“So you’re feeling better now?”

“Yeah.”

“Better enough to buy me dinner?”

Cody shoves playfully at Dan. “What, are you my boyfriend now too?”

Dan laughs. “I don’t wanna fight with Awsten and Patty over you. I just want some free food.”

“Alright, alright,” Cody says, breaking into laughter as well.

~~~

On Sunday morning, Awsten wakes up Cody by climbing into his dorm room through his fucking window, knocking over all the shit on his desk in the process.

“It’s morning!” Awsten says, trying to pull Cody out of his bed. “Wake up!”

“How the hell did you get into my room?” Cody grumbles, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. “I live on the third floor.”

“I have my ways,” Awsten says, bouncing on his feet as he continues to yank on Cody’s arm. “Come on, get up. I wanna do stuff with you.”

Cody looks at the window, which is open. He definitely had that shut last night. He tries to puzzle it out and gives up. “Did you climb up?”

Awsten tugs harder and drags him halfway out of bed. “There are things called ladders, you know.”

Cody grudgingly gets out of bed and goes to the window. There’s no ladder outside. “What, you use an invisible ladder?”

“How I got here doesn’t matter!” Awsten says from behind him. There’s the sound of Cody’s dresser opening and a moment later, something soft is thrown at Cody’s back. “Come on, get dressed, we’re going out!”

Cody turns around and picks up the shirt Awsten threw at him. “What are we doing? Is Patty meeting us?”

“Yeah, so you need to hurry and get up! I told him I’d bring you over.”

It turns out Awsten’s plan for the day is just heading into the nearby town to its only truly interesting attraction: an alien museum. Cody had passed by it a few times, and had always been interested in going, but up until now he’s never had the time.

“I went here with Jawn the first week,” Awsten says excitedly, swinging both Cody and Patty’s hands as they walk through the entrance. “It’s so hilarious, it’s amazing. Like the building is super old and creepy and they’ve just filled it with all this alien crap.”

“Is it haunted?” Patty asks, tilting his sun hat back and taking off his sunglasses. 

“No,” Cody says, right as Awsten says, “I wish.”

Awsten cackles. “Right, you can feel energies, can’t you? No, it’s just got all these weird twists and turns. Otto’s been in here too and he says it’s got charms in it to keep ghosts from lingering too long.”

They pay for their tickets and start into the museum. The first room is mostly full of information signs and newspapers and reconstructions of alien sightings and theories. Cody skims over some of it, but Awsten’s already heading towards the next room. 

The second room is far more interesting. It’s been decorated like the inside of a spaceship straight out of a science fiction movie. The lights are dimmer in this room, apart from flashing colored lights on the fake panels. Cody looks around at the room. 

It’s so fucking cool. 

“Come on!” Awsten says, taking Cody’s hand again. He pulls Cody over to a bunch of seats set up like a cockpit. There’s a darkened screen in front of the seats. Awsten, Cody, and Patty all sit down and then Awsten leans forward to press a button on the wall.

The screen starts playing. It’s a pretty well-acted thing, Cody’s got to admit. Sort of simulating a spaceship going into an unexplored part of the universe. The lights in the room flicker on cue as the ship encounters problems. Cody’s eyes widen and he leans forward in excitement as the fake ship gets boarded. The lights in the room go dark and the lights around another door come on, bright and spooky.

“Whoa,” Cody says. 

“That’s cool,” Patty says.

“Yeah!” Awsten says. “When me and Jawn came here, he just went into the next room before doing this part. Otto told us about the video and we had to come back and see it again.”

“How many times have you been in here?” Patty says.

“Just twice, but it’s cool, so I wanted you guys to see it,” Awsten says. He turns and beams at them and Cody can’t help but smile back at how happy he looks. Awsten really is cute when he’s… well, when he’s like this. Excited.

“I like it,” Cody says.

“Oh you haven’t even seen the cool stuff yet,” Awsten says.

The next room, or rather, _series_ of rooms are decorated like a futuristic alien spaceship, complete with blue tube lights along the walls and sleek gray panels making up the floor and walls. They sort of look like the set of a low budget alien movie, but Cody’s still ecstatic.

“How the fuck have I never been in here before?” he says. “This is so fucking wild. I gotta bring Maxx and Dan and Zach in here later.”

“It’s cool, right?” Awsten says eagerly. 

“Are there any aliens lurking around?” Patty says.

“Sort of,” Awsten says. He takes their hands again and guides them to the next room, which is a control room of sorts with a bunch of larger-than-life figures of creepy looking aliens. They’re kind of similar to the one from _Alien_ , but they’ve got their own character. Cody stands in the center of the room and looks around in awe. This is the coolest fucking place he’s ever been in. Holy shit, he needs to come back every fucking week.

“Is this whole place just like, an alien themed fun house?” Patty says. 

“I mean… sort of?” Awsten says. “The second floor is full of art and shit. We can see that after we go through this, but it’s not as cool. Unless you wanna see it.”

Cody’s still looking around at the place, imagining if it were real. It’d be so cool to be on a real alien ship. In space. He closes his eyes and takes in all the sound effects around him.

“I think I’d like to see it,” Patty says. “We can go through these rooms again afterwards. Since it looks like Cody’s having fun.”

“I am!” Cody says, opening his eyes. “This is so awesome! I had no idea what this museum was like!”

“Ha-ha-ha, glad I got to be the one to bring you here.”

Awsten’s grinning at him. And all at once, Cody’s overwhelmed with happiness— this is basically their first real date outside of the school and Awsten picked this place, possibly not even knowing how excited Cody would be about it. After Homecoming, and finally easing the stupid rivalry between them, it’s just… the perfect way to really start things between the three of them.

Cody rushes over to Awsten and grabs him and kisses him heavily on the lips.

~~~

Cody doesn’t realize until Monday, when he walks into class and sees Dan, that he completely forgot about talking to his boyfriends about the whole demon thing.

But Dan doesn’t bring it up, and when they’re leaving class, he gets thoroughly distracted by Cody talking about the alien museum.

~~~

Everything’s going better. Classes are the same as ever, but between Cody, Awsten, and Patty, Homecoming just… fixed things. Awsten’s perfectly sweet, Patty’s happy, and Cody can’t get enough of them. Dan and Zach and Maxx tease him about it, but Cody doesn’t really care.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner turn into big group events, with all twelve of them mingling together. Cody still feels kind of weird around Ali, but as the days pass and Ali cracks the most hilarious jokes, he starts to get used to the cryptid’s aura. 

And for a while, it seems like everything’s going to be fine. 

But then he’s passing by the main office with Dan on his way to his last class of the day and he sees _them_.

And he stops cold.

All at once, it feels like… like a shield of happiness and safety has been shattered. He feels like he’s been stabbed in the chest with something cold. 

The demon girl turns and smiles at him. It’s not a friendly smile.

“Oh, so this is the school you go to!” she says. “What a coincidence!”


	3. Chapter 3

Cody can’t move. He’s frozen in place as the demon girl walks towards him, slowly and with that unwavering smirk on her face. Her demonic aura is horrible. It’s stifling, crushing, intentionally intimidating. It’s so much stronger than his. 

“Cody, right?” she says, stopping uncomfortably close to him. “It’s been a while. I was hoping I’d see you at another assembly. Have you been in this realm the whole time?”

“Hi,” Dan says, pushing himself against Cody’s side. “Who are you?” he asks bluntly.

The demon girl’s smile twitches. “A forest fairy, hm? I’m Opal.”

“What are you doing here?” Cody says. He feels like he can’t breathe properly. 

Opal reaches out and taps her claws against Cody’s collarbone. He stumbles back, but the point of contact feels like it’s burning. Dan looks at him and then at Opal. 

“The hell was that?” Dan snaps.

Opal’s smile drops and she glares unimpressed at Dan. “Hey, you think you could leave us alone for a minute? I want to catch up with my friend here.”

“We’re not friends,” Cody says. “I don’t even know you.”

“Oh, but we might know each other soon,” Opal says, taking a step towards Cody again. “My uncle’s in the office arranging a tour of this… school of yours. I’m thinking about transferring. Since I was getting homeschooled in the Realm of Expanse, and… well, if you haven’t heard—”

“I’ve heard,” Cody says.

Opal’s smirk returns. “Anyway, I can’t wait to see what this school is like. At least I know I’ll have one other demon to talk to.”

“Yeah,” Dan says, throwing an arm around Cody and steering him away from Opal. “Well, bye. Gotta get to class and all.” He hurries Cody down the hallway, and around the corner.

Cody breaks away from Dan and collapses against the wall.

“Oh fuck,” he whispers, gasping for breath. He covers his mouth. No, no, no. Those two can’t be here. Monster High is a nice place. Even with its monster and magic-related incidents, it’s peaceful. It’s safe.

Opal… is anything but safe. 

“Dude,” Dan’s hands are on his shoulders and his face is inches away from his. “What’s going on? Do you need to go to the nurse?”

Cody shakes his head quickly, but he can’t stop panting. He can’t get enough air and he feels like he’s suffocating. His vision is going dark around the edges. 

Dan places his hands on either side of his face. “Hey, I’m going to try something, just keep breathing. This might help.”

Cody feels Dan’s magic rise up and gently reach out towards him. Right away, as the magic touches Cody, he can feel the soothing effects. Cody releases a slow breath and starts to relax against the wall. He closes his eyes and his mind is full of the sensation of a late summer forest breeze. His heartbeat slows down and his panic subsides.

“Okay, you feeling better?”

“Yeah…” Cody murmurs. Distantly, he can feel the two demons’ auras, but he can’t feel panicked about it with his mind still full of Dan’s magic.

“Alright. You wanna talk to me? Want me to get Awsten and Patty?”

“No.” Cody says, opening his eyes and straightening up immediately. Opal’s still— he doesn’t want Awsten and Patty being anywhere near him when Opal’s still on the campus. He touch against his collarbone still burns, even after Dan’s soothing healing magic washed through him.

Dan is watching him with concern. “Hey. Is that… one of the people you told me about?”

Cody bites his lip and nods. 

“Fuck.” Dan glances back in the direction of the main office. “Alright, I’m getting you out of here. Forget class, you can’t concentrate like this anyway.”

“Dan—” Cody tries to protest, but Dan is already leading him away and he can’t muster the strength to pull away from him. He sighs and tries not to think about the two demonic auras still lingering at the main office.

~~~

Cody’s barely sat down in his room when the door bursts open and Awsten and Patty both come in.

Cody blinks at them in shock. “What are you— don’t you have class?”

“Maxx texted everyone and said you had a panic attack,” Awsten says.

“Maxx?” Cody repeats. He looks over at Dan, who shrugs in apology.

“Sorry, I just texted him and Zach to let them know where we were going,” Dan says. He pulls out his phone and winces. “And Maxx texted everyone.”

“Great,” Cody grumbles. 

Patty draws close to Cody and places a comforting hand on Cody’s arm. “How are you doing? Is it okay that we’re here?”

Cody sighs. “Yeah.”

Awsten gives Cody a long look and then starts shifting into his wolf form. Patty and Cody walk over to the bed and they sit down. Awsten hops up onto the bed and curls around Cody’s side. Cody reaches down to stroke Awsten’s soft fur while Patty leans against him and rubs his back. Meanwhile, Dan leaves the room. 

“What’s going on?” Patty says softly. “We want to help you. Whatever you need, just talk to us, okay?”

Cody presses his lips together. Opal’s touch still burns against his skin. He’s starting to worry it’s some kind of demon thing, and not just her being a creep. Is there… is there a way for demons to snoop on other demons they’ve touched? He has no idea. Fuck, if so, then he really doesn’t want to paint some kind of target on his friends and boyfriends. Opal’s already got her eyes on the whole school, apparently. 

And how is he even supposed to start explaining all this shit to Awsten and Patty? _I want to keep you guys safe because you guys are so amazing but there’s some freaky demons that may or may not be planning on killing everyone at this entire school for the stupidest, most selfish reason you can imagine._ Yeah, no. He puts his face in his hands and shakes his head.

Awsten whines and curls closer around Cody in response. 

“Hey, it’s alright,” Patty says, hugging Cody. “You don’t have to say anything. But we’re here for you.”

What did Cody ever do to deserve them? He can feel his eyes tearing up and he holds both of his boyfriends closer.

Nervously, uncertainly, he reaches out with his power again, dreading where Opal might be now. But as he casts out over the school, he doesn’t find her. He frowns and focuses a little harder, looking everywhere, even straining to reach the nearby town.

No demons. 

They’re gone. The weight leaves his chest. 

Awsten puts his head in Cody’s lap. Cody looks down at him and holds him— and Patty— a little tighter. Holy shit, they’re going to be okay. If Opal’s gone… well, he remembers his own admission process. Even if she’s being considered for transfer, the school has steps each student has to go through. He’s got time to do something about this.

Because like hell is he going to let that demon anywhere near his friends and his boyfriends again.

~~~

__  
**Twinkle twinkle demon boy…**  


_The world is dark and burning. Cody can’t move, can’t do anything but stare in horror at the main school building, consumed in blue hellfire. Everything’s on fire and he can hear screaming from all around._

_“No…” he breathes. He tries to get himself to run. There’s something important he needs to— No, he needs to try and stop it. Blue hellfire… he can control that, can’t he? He needs to try and save everyone._

_Feminine laughter echoes all around him._

_Suddenly Cody can move, and he stumbles before he manages to sprint towards the building. He tries to reach for his powers, but they’re so far away. He panics. He pushes into the building and looks around._

_“Is anyone still in here?” he calls._

_“Cody!” comes a scream._

_Cody’s heart skips a beat. Oh no. Awsten. He runs through the halls, yelling out his boyfriend’s name, but no matter how hard he tries to follow Awsten’s voice, he can’t catch up with him._

_“Awsten!”_

_“Cody!”_

_“Awsten! Awsten! Where are you!”_

_“Cody!”_

_Cody crashes through a set of double doors._

_**Your school has become your Troy…** _

_Cody stops, shocked at the scene that he finds beyond the doors. Not the devastation he was expecting, but rather a serene and still place that is so… otherworldly. He looks all around him, at the endless field of flowers. All of them in the most vibrant shades of red and gold and orange. Above him, the sky is gray and rolling like it’s about to rain._

_And Opal is standing in the flowers a short distance away, facing him. She’s in a long black dress that sways in the wind._

_Cody glares at her. “Opal,” he says. “What are you doing?”_

_Opal spreads her arms wide and turns in a slow circle. “Isn’t this place beautiful? I figured you haven’t seen it. You should come, see it before it falls—”_

_“What are you doing,” Cody repeats, stomping through the flowers towards her. Unfortunately, the distance remains the same, even when Cody tries running._

_Opal puts her hands on her hips and smirks at him again. “This isn’t even the most beautiful place in this realm,” she says. “I just thought it’d be nice to give you a little look at it. Since I’m about to give you a little look at something else too…”_

_“What—” Cody starts, but Opal just laughs and raises her arms up to the sky. A bolt of blue lightning crashes down between them, blinding Cody for a second._

_**This will see another dawn...** _

_When Cody’s vision returns, he’s back outside the school. It’s still burning. But this time, Opal is standing in front of it._

_“You’re just a half-demon,” she says. “There aren’t even any real demons staffing your pathetic school. What can they do?”_

_Cody’s hands clench into fists. “You’re a fucking monster.”_

_Opal laughs and the sound echoes through the whole world again. “We’re all monsters, Cody! And the strongest monsters win. Do you know what happened to the Realm of Blood? What really happened? No, you probably don’t.” She shakes her head. “Lesser monsters… they’re worth less than the likes of me. Worth. Less.”_

_“You think you’re just going to be able to come to my school and murder everyone?” Cody spits._

_Opal smiles. “I don’t have to murder everyone. Just enough…”_

_**Kiss your boys before they’re gone…** _

_Cody’s blood runs cold at that. Opal’s holding Awsten by the throat in one hand, and Maxx in the other. Both of them are struggling in her grip._

_“NO!” Cody screams. He tries to charge at her, to summon his own hellfire, to do anything, but he can’t. He’s never felt so fucking useless._

_Maxx turns and looks at him. He opens his mouth_

_and screams._

_**Twinkle twinkle demon boy…** _

_“Oh, but the banshee isn’t the one you really care about, is he?” Opal says. Maxx vanishes and he’s replaced by Patty._

_Cody falls to his knees. “Why are you doing this?”_

_Opal’s claws dig into Awsten and Patty’s throats. Blood pours out of them and they thrash and cry out in pain as they die in Opal’s hands. Cody’s sobbing, screaming, pulling at his hair and clawing at his face and cursing how weak he is._

_“Oh Cody,” Opal says, slowly walking over to Cody and reaching out to force his chin up to look at her. “You know this isn’t real.”_

_**All your fears, they bring me joy...** _

_“Yet.”_

 

Cody wakes up. Awsten’s curled up on one side, in his wolf form. Patty’s spooning him on his other side. 

His face is sticky with tears.

~~~

How long can a person go without sleeping? Specifically a half-demon?

Every night for five nights straight now, Opal’s been dragging Cody into nightmares like the first one. She taunts him with that creepy rhyme while she makes him run around and try to find his boyfriends. Every time, he’s too late and he’s forced to watch her kill them. Every time, Maxx’s banshee scream echoes in his ears. 

It’s all he can do to keep from hugging the shit out of them when he sees them perfectly safe in the mornings.

Safe… but for how long?

Cody doesn’t even know what he can do. He’s been trying to fight back in the nightmares, but Opal is very clearly the one in charge in them. He’s been trying to avoid sleeping, but he keeps passing out anyway. He’s almost called his family for advice so many times, but he doesn’t know how they’d stop some demon kid from a powerful clan from haunting him in his dreams. Would it cause problems with all the bullshit demon politics going on? 

He drops his head onto the table. He’s so fucking tired. 

A hand touches his back and he lifts his head blearily.

“Cody?” 

It’s Dan. He makes a face— Cody must look like a mess.

“I’ve been sleeping… not great,” Cody mumbles. 

“Yeah, we all figured,” Dan says. He sits down next to Cody. “Listen… This sleeping problem you’re having. It’s because of that demon Opal, isn’t it?”

Cody tenses up and looks around him quickly. There’s nobody else at their breakfast table yet, but he still feels on edge hearing the demon’s name.

“Uh huh,” Dan says.

“It’s not—”

“Yeah, no, this is a big deal,” Dan says. “Dude, you’re a fucking mess. Do you have any idea what everyone’s thinking?”

“Um,” Cody says.

Dan presses a hand against his forehead. “Please. Talk to your boyfriends. They’re freaking out about you. Everyone’s worried. And I know I promised I wouldn’t say anything, but you’ve gotta promise me now that _you’re_ going to say something to them.”

Cody opens his mouth and closes it. “I… I don’t want them to—”

“If you’re about to tell me that you don’t want them to worry, you’d better—” Dan sighs. “Look, maybe we can’t fight demons, but neither can you. Reach out, man. You’ve got your friends, your boyfriends, your family. You’re not alone, you know.”

Cody drops his head onto the table again. “Sorry.”

“Promise me, Cody,” Dan says. “You’re going to talk to someone. Today.”

Cody lifts up his head and looks into Dan’s serious face. “I promise,” he says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> man I really wanted to get all of this done but Im super tired rn


	4. Chapter 4

Cody uses his free block to head back to his dorm room. He shuts the door firmly behind him and sits down on his bed. 

“Okay,” he breathes. He holds his phone in front of him and steels himself for a second before calling his mom.

It rings once, then twice, and then there’s the tone of her picking up.

_“Hi Cody!”_

Cody’s words get stuck in his throat. He had figured it would be best to talk to his mom— since, like Dan said, his friends couldn’t do anything about Opal but other demons could— but now that he’s on the phone, he can’t think of how to start talking about it. “H-hey mom. Uh, everything alright at home?”

 _“Well, it’s been pretty nice lately,”_ she says. _“Now that I don’t have to keep going back and forth to the Realm of Shadows. How is school? You still doing okay?”_

“Um,” Cody says. “School’s fine. Classes are, you know, hard but not too bad.”

_“Do you have any new pictures to send me? Any dates? You haven’t sent me anything since your cute Homecoming pictures!”_

Cody’s face grows hot. “Mom!” 

His mom laughs. _“Okay, I’ll stop teasing you. Is everything okay, Cody?”_

Cody rubs at his aching eyes. “Uh… actually something’s… something’s going on. It’s not—” he bites his lip and tries again. “You remember those guys at the meeting you took me to? The ones who wanted to save the Realm of Expanse by… killing other monsters for their essence? Well, um, one of them is trying to transfer to Monster High. And I think… I’m pretty sure she’s still set on that idea she had. About. Yeah.”

_“Oh… Cody…”_

Cody gets off his bed and starts pacing around the room. “I don’t know… I want to do something, but I don’t know if I should talk to the admissions people, or security, or… I don’t know. She shouldn’t be— the way she talks about other monsters like they’re nothing.” Cody stops himself before his voice starts shaking too badly. He really wishes he could be hugging her right now.

_“Cody, listen to me, okay? It’s going to be okay. I’m going to come over there with some of the family and we’re going to explain this to Monster High’s staff. I’m pretty sure I know exactly who you’re talking about, and no, she’s not going to your school if there’s anything our family can do about it. Cody, it’s going to be okay.”_

Cody collapses back onto his bed. “Thanks…” he says.

 _“Thank you for telling us about this,”_ his mom says. _“This is… don’t you worry, we’ll take care of this right away.”_

Cody closes his eyes. Dan was right.

~~~

_This time, there’s no burning school. It’s a forest, but all of the dark towering trees look like they’ve been dead for years. There’s no sign of life anywhere. Above, the sky rumbles with the promise of a storm. Back in the Realm of Expanse, maybe? It looks like shit._

_Opal is sitting in the nearest tree, glaring down at Cody._

_“You’ve ruined everything,” she hisses. Her eyes light up with tiny tongues of hellfire._

_Cody scoffs. “Maybe you shouldn’t have announced your plans to me literally every night. Seriously, did you even think that through?”_

_Opal jumps down from the tree. “You have no idea what you’ve done,” she says._

_“Uh, no I’m pretty sure I know what I’ve done,” Cody counters. “Stopped you from invading my school, stopped you from getting anywhere near my friends— and oh yeah, made sure this shithole of a realm is going in the garbage where it belongs.”_

_“YOU FUCKING HALFBREED FILTH,” Opal screams, charging at Cody and grabbing him by the throat. Cody claws at her grip. “You may have gotten in the way of this plan, but I will NEVER FORGET THIS! I WILL COME FOR YOU. I’LL COME FOR YOU AND YOUR WEAK LITTLE FRIENDS. And when I do…” her face twists into a grin. “I’ll save you for last. Right after I rip your boyfriends to shreds.”_

_Cody tries and fails to pry Opal’s hand from around his neck. “They’re a lot… tougher than you’d think...” he chokes out._

_Opal rolls her eyes. “A halfbreed would think so, wouldn’t you? Can’t deal with a pathetic little vampire and werewolf?”_

_“This may… be news to you…” Cody forces out. “But… other monsters… can be stubborn…”_

_“I’m aware,” Opal says with a scowl. She hefts Cody and throws him at one of the dead trees. The force sends him smashing straight through the trunk and he collides painfully with one beyond it. As the remains of the first tree collapses to the ground, Cody hears echoes of Awsten and Patty’s voices crying out in pain. His heart leaps with fear, and even the reminder that it’s not real doesn’t calm him._

_“Stubbornness doesn’t matter when you’re dead,” Opal says, emerging from around the fallen tree with a struggling and bleeding Patty in her arms._

_“C-Cody,” Patty gasps, choking from the unyielding grip Opal has around his neck._

_Fuck it, Cody doesn’t care that it’s just a nightmare._

_He jumps to his feet and runs at Opal. But a split second before he can reach out to touch Patty, Opal drags Patty to the side and kicks out at Cody. Her kick sends him crashing back into the tree. It’s painful, but one look at Patty’s face has him on his feet again._

_“Alright, this will be fun,” Opal says, holding Patty up by the neck and shaking him back and forth like a ragdoll. “Let’s see if you can get your vampire before I break his neck? Then we’ll play a different game with the werewolf.”_

~~~

The next morning, Cody’s mom calls him with the good news that Monster High will definitely _not_ be admitting Opal as a transfer student. Cody doesn’t mention that he figured that was the case, given his nightmare.

The next night, Opal is even more creative with her torment: forcing Cody through a cemetery and laughing at him while he tries to free his friends from sealed caskets laden with dead flowers. When Cody finally manages to wake up in the middle of the night, he stares at his ceiling for an hour and wonders if this is just going to be his life from now on. Opal doesn’t seem like she’s going to get tired of doing this anytime soon.

He gets up and spends the rest of the night awake.

~~~

Several days later, Cody is very nearly asleep in the middle of lunch when Awsten grabs his shoulder and shakes him gently. His chin nearly slips off of where he’s propped it up with his hand.

“Hey,” Awsten says. “Hey, Cody.”

Cody blinks and looks at him. “Huh?”

Awsten leans close to Cody. Close enough that Cody sort of forgets everything else to look back and forth between Awsten’s two different-colored eyes. Fuck, he’s so goddamn pretty.

“Surprise!” Maxx shouts from behind Cody’s back. Something that feels like a box is being pushed against him.

“Maxx, no, we were gonna save it for later!” Zach says.

“Might as well bring it out now,” Foley says. “Show him again ten minutes later, I’ll bet he won’t remember.”

“Remember what?” Cody says, turning around and finding himself with a box wrapped in blue paper shoved into his arms. “What’s this?”

“Something we all got together to get you,” Patty says. “We all talked it over, and figured it might help.”

Perplexed, Cody sets the box on the table. He rips the paper away and opens the box. Inside are—

“Dreamcatchers?” Cody says, lifting one of them out. It’s beautifully made, with beads woven into the web and strings of feathers dangling from the hoop. There’s two others in the box, both of which are just as nice as the first.

“Yeah,” Dan says, leaning over the table to point at the hoop. “I know someone who makes them— real ones, not the fake ones that some people make. These will work.”

Cody can feel the truth in Dan’s promise. There’s an energy in the dreamcatcher he’s holding: something gentle but powerful and adamant. He traces his fingertips over the web and he gets goosebumps. 

“Now you can actually try sleeping through the night for once,” Awsten says.

“You’ve been having trouble sleeping at night— we’ve all noticed,” Ali says. 

“And falling asleep in class,” Otto says, shaking his head and clicking his tongue. 

“So… if it’s got something to do with bad dreams, these can help!” Jawn says.

“And if it’s something else, we can help,” Patty says, putting an arm around Cody’s back.

“Guys,” Cody says, feeling his eyes start to fill up with tears.

“We made sure we were getting three, so you could put them in your boyfriends’ rooms too,” Dan says. 

“We can get more if you want to have sleepovers with us!” Maxx says, grabbing the wrapping paper and making it into a ball to throw at the nearest recycling bin. He misses. 

Cody puts the dreamcatcher back into the box and throws his arms around Awsten and Patty. He stands up, still hugging them, to try and include Dan and Maxx and everyone else. His friends all start climbing over the table to join in the group hug. And Cody doesn’t care that he’s crying. He’s just so overwhelmed, and he can’t believe all the support that he didn’t even realize he had. 

He feels two pairs of lips kiss him on either cheek, and even more tears slip out of his eyes.

~~~

That night, it takes a while for Cody to fall asleep, but when he finally passes out, his rest is sound and free of any nightmares. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and we're DONE. oh yeah babey
> 
> also about the dreamcatchers... I have such a personal connection to those, especially because my mom's family never really talked much about their culture with me, but they always made sure I had a dreamcatcher in my window (a real one, made by actual native people). and of course there's the whole set it off connection too, but. dreamcatchers really do work. ok thanks for reading my little ramble about that.


End file.
